Maria Redin of Mobile Powerhouse MTG Discusses Rebranding, Acquiring Raid: Shadow Legends, and Plans to Double Company Scale

In February of the previous year, Sweden’s mobile entertainment leader Modern Times Group (MTG) completed a $620 million purchase of Plarium, the studio behind the blockbuster hero‑collection title Raid: Shadow Legends. Yet, according to Maria Redin, MTG’s president and chief executive officer, that deal was merely the opening move in a much larger plan.

Redin told GamesIndustry.biz that the group’s ambition, set after the Plarium acquisition, is to double its size once more. “We established the vision last year that, following the Plarium deal, we want to double again,” she explained. “We’ll keep driving organic growth, but to achieve that we’ll need to make additional acquisitions.” The timeline for this expansion is bold: Redin aims to hit the doubling target within three to five years. She noted that MTG has already demonstrated the ability to scale quickly – the company set a similar goal in 2021 and, in her words, “tripled” its size.

A few years ago the mobile gaming sector was expanding at double‑digit rates, but growth has now settled into single‑digit territory, reflecting a market that is maturing rapidly. What was once a blue‑ocean landscape has turned a deep red, meaning that future growth will often involve taking market share from competitors or absorbing them entirely. Acquiring companies is the easier half of the equation; the real challenge lies in integrating them smoothly. The industry is littered with cautionary tales of acquisitions that resulted in studio closures because of poor integration.

MTG, however, believes it has a clear roadmap. Before buying Plarium, MTG already owned several mobile studios, including InnoGames (creator of Forge of Empires), Snowprint (Warhammer 40,000: Tacticus), Hutch (F1 Clash), Ninja Kiwi (Bloons TD 6), and Futureplay (Merge Gardens). These studios were grouped into two “districts”: a Casual District and a Midcore District – the latter covering games that sit between pure casual and hardcore experiences. The districts have now been renamed Playsimple and Playamp.

Playsimple, named after the India‑based WordTrip studio, houses free‑to‑play, ad‑supported titles, while Playamp contains the in‑app‑purchase‑driven games that make up the bulk of MTG’s portfolio. Redin says the rebranding is only the surface of a broader cultural shift.

Her goal is to craft “one of the leading gaming villages,” a phrase chosen deliberately to evoke a sense of community that employees want to belong to. Retaining talent and fostering integration are crucial when a company is growing through rapid studio purchases.

"Gaming is the perfect marriage of creativity and data‑driven decision‑making," Redin remarked. "People are our greatest asset, but we must also create an environment where they can thrive. When we acquire a studio, we want the founders and their teams to stay on board because that’s when the real story begins – scaling the business.

The only way to ensure they stay is to build a workplace they enjoy." Behind the scenes, MTG has been standardising technology and tools across its portfolio. Redin noted that not every studio needs a bespoke tech stack; the push for common platforms began when she took the helm in 2020, but the Plarium acquisition gave MTG the scale needed to roll it out fully. The pitfalls of forced standardisation are well known.

Electronic Arts’ attempt to mandate the Frostbite engine across all its studios caused major friction on projects like Mass Effect. Redin acknowledges the risk but stresses that the needs of Playsimple and Playamp differ dramatically, so the two divisions are being treated separately. "Playsimple’s tech stack will become the foundation for any future casual‑district studio we bring in," she said.

"For Midcore, we’ve selected parts of Plarium’s technology to share group‑wide, but we’re deploying it selectively to ensure the end result benefits every studio. We conducted a thorough internal assessment to decide where collaboration makes sense and where it does not." Plarium’s GoGame marketing platform and product‑detail‑page data system are already being used across MTG, and Redin says the company is adding new features to enhance them. The aim is to boost studio output across the board, focusing resources where they generate the greatest return.

Artificial intelligence is also reshaping MTG’s workflow. InnoGames disclosed earlier this year that all content for its mobile title Sunrise Village is now AI‑generated, and the studio plans to expand AI‑driven creation across its portfolio. Redin observes that AI integration is a common theme throughout the mobile sector.

"Most industry leaders I speak with are discussing how to embed new technology into their production pipelines," she noted. "Generative AI is far more powerful than any tool we’ve had before. The challenge is finding the right balance – where to adjust workflows, where to keep them unchanged, and where AI can add the most value.

Ultimately it’s about using tech to make our games more relevant to players and, ideally, to bring new titles to market faster and better." MTG is layering AI onto existing tools for tasks such as A/B testing, graphic creation, quality assurance, and more. Successful AI solutions from individual studios are being folded into the Plarium tech suite for company‑wide use. "We allow studios to experiment within our overarching AI framework," Redin explained.

"When a team develops a breakthrough, we can quickly roll it out across the group." When asked whether AI has become indispensable in the fast‑moving mobile arena, Redin cautioned against fatalism. "I’m often asked if AI will eventually replace everything we do.

I don’t think so. Human creativity remains a core strength that AI can’t replicate yet. However, ignoring AI would leave us trailing competitors.

Embracing it lets us accelerate and super‑charge our work while preserving the creative spark of our teams." She cited examples such as AI‑assisted coding, art generation, and advanced logic as areas where the technology can fill capacity gaps. Currently, about 80 % of MTG’s revenue originates from the Playamp division, and Redin is eager to broaden the studio roster.

"We bought Snowprint a few years ago; finding five more studios like Snowprint worldwide would be fantastic," she said. On the casual side, the division now consists of a single studio – Playsimple – yet it still contributes roughly 20 % of revenue. Redin hinted at the possibility of adding a third district to the gaming village, though its exact shape remains undefined. She suggested it would likely revolve around leveraging the group’s existing marketing platforms or data capabilities.

Regarding the game pipeline, Redin noted that the top‑ten mobile titles change very little year over year. "Our thesis from day one has been a belief in evergreen IPs," she said. While MTG continues to invest in proven franchises like Raid, it also recognises the need for fresh titles to keep the pipeline alive.

The broader market, however, is challenging. Supercell’s Ilkka Paananen warned that the Western mobile scene is “coasting,” with only two of the 22 games that have surpassed $1 billion since 2020 originating from the West. Even Supercell’s own incubation efforts have struggled, as illustrated by the recent shutdown of Squad Busters.

Redin acknowledges the difficulty of launching new hits but stresses that without them the studios would lose a key part of their DNA. "Plarium has a new game slated for a soft launch early next year," she revealed. "Investing in new games sustains creativity, passion, and drive across our studios." Looking ahead, Redin remains optimistic about the market’s long‑term prospects.

"We have three billion gamers worldwide; it’s a compelling market," she affirmed. While hyper‑growth may be behind us, she believes steady, low‑ to mid‑single‑digit growth is realistic, provided MTG continues to nurture evergreen IPs and bring fresh experiences to players.